He's the overall mascot for the company and acts as a trademark in that regard. He acts as a salesman for a ton of merchandise.

Lastly, he acts as the Pied Pier-esque character that attracts the kiddies to Disney's channels and properties. He's a trustworthy character because, hey, parents figure anything he's in is safe for their little ones to watch.

That said, there is a new series of shorts being released that supposedly harken back to his roots in theatrical shorts.

What's really funny is that if you watch the "making of" video you can spot a giant mural on the building where they made The Lollipop Forrest [sic] that clearly features characters from a very well-known anime show that I'm almost certain aren't licensed.

We Irish like our entitlements:
- Guinness
- Potatoes
- Independence from Britain
- A music industry afforded the full protection of the State from paying income taxes, effective competition, adapting to the marketplace and/or catering to consumer demand.

It's not the connection to an aerial, it's the circuits that act as the receiver that causes you to pay. That's why the monitor is exempt but the TV isn't.

It's all a pile of shite, but just wait till they classify your PC as a "receiving device", that's when things will get really interesting.

Heh heh, all this brings me back to the time in college when we beat the TV licence inspector by simply cutting the plug off the TV. We couldn't prove it worked so he couldn't make us pay. Ah, memories.

...one of Cartoon Network's bigger success stories of the past few years, Adventure Time, earned and retains a lot of its viewers because of the vibrant fan community that the producing studio set up and engaged with.

And to think the network will undo/inhibit all that hard work with a stunt like this.

Now that y'know people don't need blank CDs as much any more and sales have slipped, it seems pretty logical that the tax that was formerly applied to them be transitioned to the medium that replaced them.